Eugene McGuinness, 'Eugene McGuinness' (Domino)
Young Brit flashes acid tongue, weathered hooks.
By David Peisner 06.18.09 2:38 PM
"I shall age," Eugene McGuinness promises on "God in Space," the swaying, romantic ballad that closes his debut album. True, but the 22-year-old British singer-songwriter already sounds like an old soul. A few of these tunes toy with styles that sounded like throwbacks when Ray Davies played them 30 years ago; the rest are dragged no further toward the present than 1985.
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Willie Isz, 'Georgiavania' (Lex)
Call this smoky, slo-mo hip-hop jam "Crazier".
By David Peisner 06.16.09 9:47 AM
Think of Willie Isz as Gnarls Barkley's fucked-up little cousin. In fact, it's the handiwork of Philly-based producer-vocalist Jneiro Jarel and Cee-Lo's Goodie Mob mate Khujo.
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Ha Ha Tonka, 'Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South' (Bloodshot)
Bible in one hand, broken bottle in the other.
By David Peisner 06.02.09 5:13 PM
What do Sherman, Thoreau, Dostoevsky, and the Holy Ghost have in common?
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Hot Leg: Into the Light
Five years ago, Justin Hawkins was fronting the U.K.'s biggest band -- until he succumbed to the very clichés the Darkness were lampooning. Now, as he tries to kick-start Hot Leg, he's hauling his own gear, sleeping on floors, and trying not to make the same mistakes twice.
By David Peisner 05.22.09 10:10 AM
Steel Panther stride onstage around 1 A.M. at La Zona Rosa on the second night of Austin, Texas' annual South by Southwest music festival. The mock-metal band's joke isn't subtle: four guys with poodle hair and spandex pants performing foul-mouthed odes to fat girls, Asian hookers, and the primacy of heavy metal.
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Mastodon: Bang Your Head
How Mastodon endured multiple traumas to create the album of their lives.
By David Peisner 04.22.09 9:51 AM
"Has anyone seen Brent?" It's 1:30 on a cold, rainy Friday afternoon in late February. The members of Mastodon had planned on meeting a half-hour ago at El Myr, a colorful, run-down Mexican cantina that serves as unofficial HQ for the band here in their hometown of Atlanta.
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Jailhouse Rock
In 1992, sex-biz entrepreneur Dennis Sobin went to prison. Nearly two decades later, he's brandishing a guitar and preaching the power of music and art to rehabilitate the nation's incarcerated masses. But should we listen to him?
By David Peisner 04.20.09 4:42 PM
In the dim light of a cold, rainy December afternoon, the Washington, D.C. Central Detention Facility stands as a dull colossus at the edge of the city's grimy southeast corridor.
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